Religion, Buddhism and Humanity

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Religion, Buddhism and Humanity
"If God exists then it is necessarily true that God exists or If God does not exist then it is necessarily true that God does not exist" CITATION Luc83 \l 1033 (Lucey).
Agnostics, theological agnostics for that matter, believe that one ought to withhold judgment concerning the existence of God. Agnostics do have a distinct concept of God and believe that the concept of God is a necessary being. And in this world where different religions arise, it is safe to say that there are different notions of God. Agnostics, theists, and atheists alike accept that God can either exist or not; they do not believe that it is just an accident of history whether or not God exists CITATION Luc83 \l 1033 (Lucey). In the discussion of whether God exists, there is no gray area. Either God exists in every possible world, or he exists in no possible world (Lucey).
In our world, people do believe in Gods. The religions present in our day and age determine that God can exist. Religions have emerged all throughout the world preaching and teaching different ideals toward peace, unity and the existence of God. Even though different religions have flourished, wars, famines and other forms of human degradation can be found. Wars between countries are instigated by different ideals that can be grounded from the physical and mental upbringings of a person that can then affect the way of life of others. This paper will try to rethink my belief toward religion, using the religion of Buddhism as a point of discussion. This paper answers whether my beliefs have changed or have they remained the same after relearning things about religions, specifically Buddhism.
Sanctity of Life pertains to the idea that all human life is equal with each other in terms of intrinsic value. Every human being has the right to choose and the right to live in this world, in accordance to this no other human has the right to dictate your own life. Buddhism is said to be a religion similar to Christianity in terms of looking at the "sanctity of life" CITATION Per96 \l 1033 (Perrett). Some believe that Buddhism does not value human life as an intrinsic good compared to the belief that Buddhism and Christianity are the same (Perrett). Various groups of people consider that Buddhism values human life because being human allows the practice of dharma to the end goal of achieving nirvana, the elimination of suffering. Buddhism teaches that life is not an absolute value to be preserved and emphasize more on the transitoriness of life.
In understanding Buddhism, it is difficult to simply generalize their beliefs in one simple organization because Buddhism has many schools and no central authority on matters of teachings and practices. In the presence of the different schools of Buddhism, there is no clear picture whether there is a consensus of ideas between them. There are significant differences between the different schools of Buddhism, such as differences between Mahayana and the Theravada Buddhism. Though Buddhism, in general, is a religion that is strongly influential around the world with around 500million Asian adherents, it cannot be denied that they are not united as one because even though Theravada Buddhism may be the oldest surviving school of Buddhism, they have no authority toward the different doctrines and texts of Mahayana Buddhism (Perrett).
In this respect, Buddhism is no different from any other religion, they are, in someway, chaotic. Religion gives us some predetermined outcomes for certain situations that it is fatal to promptly accept and believe in. Religion believes that everything happens for a reason dictate by a higher being and fails to understand that every situation does have determinants, such as man, and can be able to be changed while some others cannot. I believe that, if God does exist, he will not just let humanity passively believe in him and will allow them to create the opportunities for themselves. If religion was to unite the world to God, the simple fact that they cannot be united in one single idea or belief curtails to the reality that there is no unity between them. It may be seen as a fact that every religion do have unity, in the sense that they all do believe in the existence of God but differ only on the way they perceive God but it cannot be denied on the basis of history that even though people and different religions do believe in God, it has caused great wars such as the Crusades and other religious wars not worth mentioning. A simple difference between ideals, beliefs, and principles can spur upon greater problems that man will face, but the presence of the different religions allow these differences to minimize the atrocities that it can bring.
Though Buddhism may seem chaotic, it does not change the fact that it can change and uplift the lives of people. Unlike Christianity, Buddhism adheres more to the alleviation of suffering, this means that it is more important for a person to be freed from pain rather than continue life full of suffering. A statement by a Theravadin Buddhist shows that life is not as valuable and inviolable as people may think; "In the case of humans the killing is the m...